Tarleton State University Magazine 2012-2013

The Tarleton State University Magazine 2012-2013

Together, for the environment University moves to integrate offerings, resources

Rocket Boys Students aim high at international competition

A Long Partnership Austin couple passionate about education, the arts

Tarleton State University

Where your journey begins.

Where you create your own unique campus life.

Where your future becomes a reality.

Life at Tarleton is something you just have to experience.

Make the most of your collegiate experience at Tarleton by joining in all that we have to offer.

Welcome Center/Office of School Relations Box T-0610, Stephenville, Texas 76402 (800) 687-4878 | (254) 968-9845

Life’s good at Tarleton.

Come be a part of the experience.

Inside

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Together, for the environment The university is continuing a major initiative to integrate environmental studies and research to create a synergy that will propel Tarleton to national status in the environmental sciences.

18 24

Rocket Boys The Tarleton Aeronautical Team, an interdisciplinary group of students, is involved in one of the most ambitious student research projects in Tarleton’s history—the CanSat competition.

A Long partnership Tarleton alum Joe R. Long and Teresa Lozano Long have a love for higher education. They’re a team, partners in giving.

3 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

12 ROOMIES In 1987, 25 years ago, Tanya Elston lived in Hunewell Annex 129. Today, her old room is occupied by Cori Hash and Erika Stumpfrock.

Here’s a “roomies” chat.

4 SCHOLAR AT WORK

TEXANS 36 ALUMNI

Profiles of human resources director Mark Washington, B.B.A. ’93; basketball coach Stan Leech, B.A. ’83, M.Ed. ’84; and nuclear technologist Kathryn Rogge, B.S. ’08.

Plus, Class Notes.

Political science professor Jesús Velasco is a recognized expert on the U.S. neoconservative movement. Plus, faculty focus and faculty retirees.

THE GATES ARE ALWAYS OPEN

8 SHORTS

A look at Tarleton’s most enduring physical landmarks.

Briefs on the Gordon gift; the Winton family; jazz aficionado Michael Pierce; and Friends of the Library.

10 THE NURSING ARTS The Nursing Building is more than classrooms. It’s an art gallery.

11 WHAT’S OUR IMAGE? An interview with President Dottavio.

4O

30 THE CLEANING LADY Learn why Tarleton is “like a family” for environmental worker Maureen Scantling.

31 SPORTS

Basketball coaches achieve milestone victories, sports briefs, new Hall of Famers and a profile of studentathlete Shelby Adamson.

42

THE UNIVERSITY’S “FRONT DOOR” Interest and enrollment growth have caused Tarleton’s Welcome Center to get a new home.

43 PASSAGES Notable passings and Silver Taps.

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Vol. 1, Number 3

Tarleton State University Magazine

2012-2013 President Dr. F. Dominic Dottavio

Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Communications Janice Horak

Editor Joe Michael Feist

Associate Editor Kurt Mogonye

Production Manager Alyson Chapman

Contributors Ross Bagienski, Nathan Bural, Dr. Christopher Guthrie, James Lehr, Kari Lewis, Office of Institutional Research

Design Molly Murphy Blank Canvas Graphic Design

OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT Box T-0415 Stephenville, TX 76402 254-968-9890

Vice President for Institutional Advancement Dr. Rick Richardson

Assistant Vice President of Development Sabra Guerra

is published annually by the

Department of Marketing and Communications Tarleton State University Box T-0730 Stephenville, TX 76402

Cover photo by Kari Lewis On the Cover: Georgiana Hudson (seated) and Christy Goffinet, environmental science graduate students, study an invertebrate for a water quality survey.

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Kat Grillo, aka “the unicycle girl,” glides through campus in March 2012. Grillo, who graduated in May with a B.S. in math, has been riding since she was 12. She plans on getting her master’s at Tarleton.

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A lifetime of opportunities What is Tarleton today? Tarleton is a place of great opportunities and grand traditions. It is a place where new knowledge leads to solutions for longtime and emerging regional and global issues. It is a place willing to change when it supports our mission to prepare students for 21st century leadership and service.

In this issue are stories of change. Today’s students bring with them new experiences, skills and tools. They are “digital natives” whose births were announced by email. Computers have always been part of their lives and phones have almost always fit in a pocket. Aside from the gadgets, are we really much different today? Two articles look back some 25 years to reflect on ways the campus experience is similar today.

Tarleton continues to have a culture of teaching excellence in the classroom and beyond. An increasing number of undergraduates have research opportunities. From rocket science and environmental science to unicycles and election cycles, you will meet faculty and student scholars who are engaged in learning and living.

Tarleton today is bigger—in enrollment, in curriculum and in accessibility. Tarleton is responding to big issues for the state and the world. It is a place of big ideas. As is never more evident than at graduation, Tarleton is a place where big dreams come true. We are ever aware of our responsibility to our students and their families for whom being a Tarleton Texan opens a lifetime of opportunities.

I often remind students, past and future, that, “The gates of Tarleton are always open.”

Professor Guthrie’s article on the history of the gates reminds us of the strong foundations on which Tarleton is growing as a university. We are proud of what is being accomplished and grateful for the help and support of so many.

These stories reflect the energy and spirit that defines the excellence of Tarleton.

texan facts ENROLLMENT

9,893 8,024 6,420

in fall 2011 in fall 2001 in fall 1991

GRADUATES

1,877 1,594 1,022

in 2010-2011 in 2000-2001 in 1990-1991

RESEARCH SPENDING

$23.4 million in FY 2010

F. D O M I N I C D O T TA V I O , P R E S I D E N T

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Faculty Focus Dr. Annette C. Albrecht, professor of counseling at Tarleton State University, was named the Rhosine Fleming Outstanding Counselor Educator of 2011 by the Texas School Counseling Association. Each year, the TSCA recognizes outstanding school counselors and contributors to the profession. Albrecht, a faculty member at Tarleton since 1992, was honored at the TSCA conference in Fort Worth on Nov. 10.

Scholar at work Tarleton professor’s book explores neoconservative movement

History professor Dr. T. Lindsay Baker is the author of A Gangster Tour of Texas, recently released by the Texas A&M University Press.

The volume chronicles 16 illegal enterprises and serves as a heritage tourist’s guide to the crime scenes where the deeds took place. The book covers the “gangster era” in Texas from the start of alcohol prohibition in 1918 and continuing through the closure of the illegal casinos in Galveston by Texas Rangers in 1957.

Dr. Karol Blaylock, associate professor of agricultural and consumer sciences, was named the state’s “Leader of the Year” by the Texas affiliate of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. The award is designed to honor family and consumer sciences professionals who have made significant contributions to the field through their involvement with the organization. Blaylock earned her Ph.D. and master’s from Texas Woman’s University, and joined the Tarleton faculty in 2005.

Dr. Julie Chappell, associate professor of English and languages, published a co-edited collection of scholarly essays, Transatlantic Literature in the Long Eighteenth Century, with Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Forthcoming from AMS Press is a co-edited volume, Spectacle, Sex, and Property in EighteenthCentury Literature and Culture, which includes her chapter on Margery Kempe and Moll Flanders. Her collection of original poetry, Faultlines, will be published this year by Village Books Press.

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JEREMY ENLOW PHOTO

Dr. Jesús Velasco holds the Joe and Teresa Long Endowed Chair in Social Sciences at Tarleton.

Faculty Focus Rod Cole, director of athletic performance and kinesiology lecturer, traveled to Delhi, India, May 13-25, on behalf of Sports Performance Science International.

In India, he worked with Olympic athletes and Olympic hopefuls in their strength and conditioning training. Cole is a 28-year veteran of strength and conditioning, with 15 of those years at NCAA Division I schools Kansas State and Texas A&M University.

Dr. Allan Nelson, associate professor of biological sciences, and his students are continuing work on the status and vegetative ecology associated with the Texas kangaroo rat. The study will help identify critical habitat and estimate population sizes of the small mammal that lives in mesquite brush country. Data will be used to determine if the species is federally threatened or endangered. Nelson received funding from Texas Parks and Wildlife in the amount of $114,398 for travel, supplies and salaries.

Five members of the Tarleton faculty were named the 2012 recipients of the O.A. Grant Excellence in Teaching Awards. Those selected include Paula McKeehan, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Sciences; Bill Beaty, Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics; Dr. Laurie McAdams, Department of Curriculum and Instruction; Mark Holtorf, Department of Fine Arts; and Glenda Hood, Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences. Created in honor of the longtime social sciences faculty member, the O.A. Grant awards are presented by the Tarleton Alumni Association and Office of External Relations in conjunction with the University Faculty Awards.

BY JOE MICHAEL FEIST

In the late 1970s, a young Jesús Velasco was studying at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City when, in his words, he became “enchanted with the United States and its political history.”

That love evolved into a career as a political scientist, writer and teacher. And today, Tarleton professor Jesús Velasco is recognized as one of the foremost scholars of one of the most influential intellectual movements in the United States—neoconservativism. X

Dr. Moumin M. Quazi, associate professor of English and interim director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, published three articles and a poem, presented three scholarly papers at both international and national conferences, conducted several workshops, edited two journals and a book series, and serves on the advisory board for the South Asian Review and the San Antonio College Multiculturalism Conference.

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Faculty Focus Dr. Jason Sharp, an assistant professor of computer information systems, published two articles: “Leadership and Knowledge Management in an E-government Environment” in Administrative Sciences and “Best Practices for Configuring Globally Distributed Agile Teams” in the Journal of Information Technology Management. He presented a paper titled “Semiotics as a Theoretical Foundation of Information Design” at the Conference on Information Systems Applied Research. He was the recipient of the COBA Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning Award.

Velasco’s “detailed account of the neoconservatives’ rise and influence on U.S. foreign policy will be one of those works that scholars and political analysts working on American politics will want to consult and debate in the years ahead.”

— D R . P E T E R T R U B O W I T Z , professor of government at UT

During 2011-2012, Dr. Leslie Spotz, associate professor of piano, performed in London; Austin Community College; HardinSimmons University; Abilene Summer Music Festival; Langdon Center Summer Concerts with Dr. Iwao Asakura; Angelo State University in November with Dr. Jeff Womack, bassoon, and in January with Dr. Bryan ApplebyWineberg, Dr. John Irish, trumpets; Central Texas College, with Ronda Eldridge, flute and the TSU Flute Choir, and on the Tarleton State University campus, with Dr. Kim Hagelstein, horn.

Dr. Sudarshan Kurwadkar, assistant professor of environmental engineering, received an early career award from the American Society of Engineering Education for his paper, “Undergraduate Environmental Engineering Research Experiences in a Predominantly Undergraduate Teaching Institute.” Coauthored with Dr. Dan Marble, the paper documented a pro-active approach taken by Tarleton State University to facilitate undergraduate research. Kurwadkar has also been selected as 2012 ExCEEd (Excellence in Civil Engineering Education) Fellow by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Dr. Mallory Young, a professor in the Department of English and Languages, was named a Texas A&M University System Regents Professor.

Young received the award at a Board of Regents ceremony in November 2011. She joins six Tarleton State University professors who have received the distinction in the past. The award is designed “to honor A&M System professors who have provided exemplary service not only to their university or agency, but also to the community, the state, the nation and the world.”

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His 2010 book, Neoconservatives in U.S. Foreign Policy Under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush: Voices Behind the Throne,was published by the Woodrow Wilson Center and Johns Hopkins University Press.

The study of neoconservatism “is important because it’s a part of the American intellectual history,” Dr. Velasco said, seated in his nondescript office on the third floor of the O.A. Grant building. “It’s very complicated to explain American history without the contribution of neoconservative intellectuals since the 1930s.”

Velasco, holder of Tarleton’s Joe and Teresa Long Endowed Chair in Social Sciences since 2010, worked on the book off and on for 13 years. He distinguishes between the first generation of neocons, which rose to prominence in the 1970s and positions within the Reagan administration in the ’80s, with the second generation so often associated with President George W. Bush’s policies on Iraq, regime change and democratization.

Utilizing the techniques of a historian, Velasco interviewed many key neoconservatives for the book, including Jeane Kirkpatrick, Richard Perle, Elliott Abrams, Irving Kristol and William Kristol, and delved into numerous archives.

The first generation of neocons, Velasco explained, were young New York intellectuals who were actually leftist Trotskyites. They became New Deal supporters, but gradually came to disagree in the 1960s and ’70s with some of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs and what they perceived to be a too liberal Democratic Party, especially in foreign policy.

Jeane Kirkpatrick, Reagan’s ambassador to the United Nations, was a leading neocon voice at the time, Velasco said.

“She and other intellectuals began talking about the linking of human rights with the national security interests of the United States,” he said. “Her argument was that, basically, authoritarian regimes, such as military regimes, were different than totalitarian regimes, such as the Soviet Union, and we could work with or tolerate authoritarian regimes because they could change. The Soviet Union could not.”

While some of their arguments were proved wrong with the fall of the Soviet Union, Velasco said, the neoconservative voice was important throughout the Reagan presidency.

The second generation, those identified closely with Bush’s policies, encouraged American intervention in global conflicts, Velasco said. Through their writings in intellectual journals and political alliances, they advocated regime change, preemptive warfare and democratization, and those views came to dominate the Republican Party.

After the fall of their primary adversary, the Soviet Union, neocons “found a new enemy when September 11 happened,” Velasco said. “Because then the new enemy of the United States becomes terrorism. In American history, you will see that the national identity is based on contrasting with an evil other. So you have, first, the Native Americans, then you have blacks, then you have the immigrants, then you have communism. And right now it’s Islam and terrorism.”

Even after what Velasco, in his book, calls “the American fiasco in Iraq,” neoconservatives stuck to their guns.

“People like Richard Perle, and many other neoconservatives, said that the idea was right, but Bush didn’t supply enough troops, that type of thing,” he said.

The influence of neoconservatives continues today, Velasco said, with many being the leading advocates of U.S. military intervention in Iran.

Velasco, who taught for years at the Center for Teaching and Research in Economics in Mexico City, has also served as a visiting professor at George Mason University and Harvard University, and was a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. He received his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Texas at Austin in 1995.

Dr. Peter Trubowitz, a professor of government at UT, was one of Velasco’s teachers who is now a colleague and friend.

Trubowitz said that Velasco’s “detailed account of the neoconservatives’ rise and influence on U.S. foreign policy will be one of those works that scholars and political analysts working on American politics will want to consult and debate in the years ahead.”

He added that Velasco “is a high energy, multitalented person who has a good nose for research and a gift for teaching…. Tarleton is fortunate to have someone as deeply committed to teaching and scholarship as Jesús.”

Scholar at work

Faculty Retirees Dr. Dan Collins, professor of computer information systems, is retiring after 37 years of service to Tarleton. Hired as the first full-time computer professor at Tarleton in 1975, Collins led the establishment of the CIS department within the College of Business Administration, developing its initial curriculum and faculty. He served nine years as head of the department, then seven years as dean of the College of Business Administration. He returned to full-time teaching in 2001.

Dr. Janis Petronis, business professor, is retiring after 24 years. She specialized in international programs, leading 15 trips to over 30 countries, involving nearly 300 students. She wrote and administered a U.S. Department of Education grant that supported international experiences for the majority of College of Business Administration faculty and developed the BBA in international business. Petronis was executive director of the Tarleton Alumni Association and assistant vice president of institutional advancement prior to her 1995 move to the COBA. Professor Richard Petronis, J.D., has taught business, employment, real estate and international business law on the graduate and undergrad levels for 24 years. He is a longtime member of the ROTC Advisory Committee and served 23 years as the faculty adviser for Kappa Delta Rho Fraternity. His awards include TSU Adviser of the Year and O.A. Grant in Teaching.

Dr. Charles Rives, professor of music and director of choirs, is retiring after 29 years of service to the Department of Fine Arts. Rives joined the Tarleton faculty in 1983 after serving as a high school choir director in New Mexico, and was instrumental in expanding Tarleton’s vocal studies program to more than 100 students today.

Dr. Donald L. Zelman is retiring after 43 years as a member of the Tarleton history faculty. He served as the first dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts (2000-2006), and before that established and served as director of the Division of General Studies (1988-2000), where he created the Academic Advising Committee. His honors and recognition include a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship to UC Berkeley.

Dr. Patricia Zelman, professor of history, is retiring after 32 years of teaching at Tarleton.

Her specialties include U.S. economic and social history, the history of American women, historiography and historical method. Her fondest memories, she said, are of the students in the required U.S. history survey courses. She has taught roughly 8,000 of them, no two alike, she said, adding that she hoped they learned from her as much as she learned from and enjoyed knowing them.

Also retiring are Carroll Pippin, William Beaty, Dr. Lynda Gunter and Paula Maness.

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Dr. Michael Pierce is co-host of KTRL’s “Afternoon Jazz.”

texan facts CLASS OF 2015

1,577

first-time freshmen in fall 2011

32.5%

of firsttime freshmen graduated in the top 25 percent of their high school class

58

first-time freshmen graduated from Stephenville High, the most from any high school

151 16

Texas counties and states in the country represented among first-time freshmen Most first-time freshmen were born in

1993

19

first-time male freshmen named Tyler, the most of any first name

31

first-time female freshmen named Ashley, the most of any first name

14

first-time freshmen named Smith, the most of any surname

The flip side of Michael Pierce For more than three decades, he taught history, wrote about history, breathed history. But all the while, there was a little known flip side to one of Tarleton’s most familiar faces.

Dr. Michael Pierce, it turns out, is a jazz nut.

His newfound role as co-host of Tarleton Public Radio’s “Afternoon Jazz” show, along with fellow faculty member Hank Jones, has surprised some, including Pierce himself.

“After doing it once, I said I didn’t think I’d do it again, but here I am,” Pierce said of the program that began last summer.

Pierce’s fondness for jazz began while in high school, and his affection for the music grew when he began studying at the University of North Texas in Denton, known as a hotbed for all types of music. “(Jazz) appeals to me quite a bit,” said Pierce, who retired from the Tarleton faculty in 2007 after 31 years of teaching but continues to serve as a part-time adjunct professor. “Jazz is entertaining

Libraries are where the souls of universities reside.

The Friends of the Dick Smith Library know that, and for more than 20 years the all-volunteer organization has been feeding the soul of one of the university’s greatest assets.

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and moving, and it’s attractive to me in that way.”

It was his purchase of Gerry Mulligan’s album California Concerts, which came out in 1955, that led to an impressive collection totaling more than 950 LPs and 1,500 CDs, some of which the softspoken professor shares with listeners each week on KTRL. Pierce, a military historian who authored a book on famed 19th century Army officer Ranald S. MacKenzie, said the KTRL show allows him to share his interest in all forms of jazz, from groundbreaking John Coltrane (his favorite composer) to underground turntablism.

And, he said, it gets him out of the house.

“I have a wife who doesn’t appreciate jazz particularly, so I have a great time here at the station,” Pierce said. “Co-hosting the show is lots of fun, and it has me going back, digging through my old stuff and enjoying the music again. I’ve found albums I forgot I had!”

Through the years, the group has donated more than $105,000 to the library through membership dues, fundraisers and book sales held each summer. The funds have been used to acquire resources that lie outside of the library’s budget, such as the replacement of worn microfilm of area newspapers and the seed money to digitize The J-TAC. Funds also went toward furnishing the Local History Room in the library’s basement—a well-appointed nook that contains a collection of books, courthouse records and other artifacts on permanent loan for the public to view.

The organization also helps sponsor discussions and lectures on literature, and aids in the creation of endowments, bequests and other gifts to the Dick Smith Library.

“We strive to make the library experience more enlightening for students and

—KURT MOGONYE

other users by identifying projects that help them want to use the library, and to facilitate research and other scholarly activities,” said president Kay Patterson. “Ultimately, our goal is to make the community aware of what a good resource the Dick Smith Library is for the community.”

—KURT MOGONYE

All in the family

A Model T work truck is among the displays at the Gordon Center in Thurber.

The $6 million Six million dollars could buy 30 Lamborghini Gallardos. Or you could buy yourself and 8,820 of your closest friends a brand-new 64-gig iPad. Or it could provide the funding to keep alive a unique museum and research center that delves into the industrial history of Texas and a once thriving town that disappeared in the face of discovery and technology. And it could provide scholarships for years to come for talented students like David Torres, a first-generation Tarleton Texan who longs to be a pediatrician.

In November 2011, Tarleton achieved a milestone. It accepted the largest single gift in its history, a $6 million donation from Mrs. W.K. Gordon Jr. and the W.K. Gordon Jr. Foundation.

The gift included $1 million for general scholarships and $5 million for continued funding of the W.K. Gordon Center for the Industrial History of Texas, a Tarleton facility that combines historical research, a museum and special collections library. The center, on Interstate 20 in the ghost town of Thurber, is named after Mrs. Gordon’s father-in-law, William Knox Gordon, an engineer, businessman and central figure in Thurber’s history.

—JOE MICHAEL FEIST

For the past 21 years, Dr. Richard Winton has been a professor in Tarleton’s math department. And he and his family have found a collegiate home at Tarleton.

His wife, Mary, completed her nursing degree at Tarleton in 1994 and is now working on her Ph.D. through the University of Texas at Tyler while teaching in Tarleton’s nursing department.

Winton refers to his oldest daughter, Lin Su, as “my high school dropout with a Ph.D.” At age 4, after being tested, Lin Su started first grade. She skipped a couple of grades along the way and by age 14, halfway through high school, her SAT scores indicated she was ready to enter college.

Lin Su spent her freshman year at a large state university and found the classes crowded and the feeling impersonal. Her father suggested she come home and take a few classes at Tarleton. Impressed with the quality of the teaching and facilities, she stayed and graduated.

“Lin Su said her Tarleton professors were approachable and enthusiastic about helping her,” said Winton. “When she began her Ph.D. at the University of Texas, she was well prepared and felt about a year ahead of everyone else.”

Lin Su earned her Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology from UT. His younger daughter, Kristin, has completed her bachelor’s degree at Tarleton.

Winton’s research interests include abstract algebra, topology, continuum theory and cryptology, or the mathematical science of designing systems for encryption and decryption.

“People think I’m joking, but I love math deeply,” he said. “Sometimes I get goosebumps thinking about the beauty that’s involved in it.”

—JAMES LEHR

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The nursing arts

“Lilies” is by Granbury artist and Tarleton grad Lilly Lovell ’10

“In Motion” is a glass mobile by Dallas artist Aaron Thane Tate.

When Tarleton’s Nursing Building opened early in 2011, the sleek curves and clean lines, imposing white columns and tinted glass made the Randall Scott Architects-designed building one of the most aesthetically pleasing structures on campus.

But the exterior beauty is only the beginning. Step inside and you’ll enter a world of fine art strategically placed amid the classrooms, labs and robotic mannequin “patients.”

Janice Horak, assistant vice president of marketing and communications, helped arrange for the pieces to be purchased and installed, along with Granbury artist Stacey Watkins Martin.

“All of the public art in the building is original art,” Horak said. The nursing faculty, she added, had input on the themes “so their workplace would reflect what they enjoy and who they are. And as a result, they and the students love the artwork.”

Nursing “is a contemporary building with contemporary art that has added so much to the university’s overall art collection,” Horak said. “It’s a tremendous educational facility that’s also an artistic showplace.”

This page features a few of the pieces in the collection.

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—JOE MICHAEL FEIST

“Untitled” is a resin and metal piece by Stacey Watkins Martin.

Fort Worth artist Soon Y. Warren used oils to create “Dance of Purple.” and “Rebirth of Lotus.”

q

So what is our brand?

a

The conversations that I’ve seen have centered around the notions of traditional, personal, family oriented, affordable.

What I’ve tended to say and believed from the moment I first stepped on campus is that Tarleton represents the best of the public and the private sector. Much like a private institution, we take pride in providing small classes, a great degree of student-faculty interaction and a rich and personal experience for students.

The public university side of this is that we are a very affordable institution that provides access to excellence. And we have what I believe to be a very rich and diverse set of program offerings.

q

So words like “small” and “cowboy” don’t tell the story?

a

What’s our

image?

An interview with President Dottavio

BY JOE MICHAEL FEIST

q

Many people today, those who don’t really know Tarleton, still think it’s a cowboy college? How would you respond to that?

a

In no way should we ever minimize the historical significance of agriculture at Tarleton. We were John Tarleton Agricultural College. It is a vital part of our roots and an integral part of the university today. But did you know that our College of Agricultural and Environmental Science today ranks fourth out of five colleges in terms of enrollment and fifth out of five in terms of semester credit hours? We graduate far more students in many other disciplines than we do in what you would traditionally (associate with) a cowboy college.

I think clearly education has been a marker for who we are for many years. Our engineering graduates do extraordinarily well by any measure. Our water quality program through the Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research has been a great strength of this university for many years. Other programs that get very high marks are in the allied health fields.

These are areas of recognized excellence that identify us as a very different place than we were in the past.

q

What about the fine arts?

a

We are the cultural center of a multicounty region here. What happens almost every night in the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center is really remarkable.

It defines a quality of life for people in this county and beyond. How many places in a “cowboy school” can you go one night to a concert with a renowned trumpet player and the next night to an opera?

q

And even the nature of agriculture has changed, hasn’t it?

a

Agriculture as people knew it is no longer the agriculture of today. It is now a very scientific field.

Sophisticated pieces of technology such as advanced computer programs, satellite assisted analysis and global positioning systems are analyzing soil, crop yields and the precise applications of pesticides, for example. This is a very different field than it was not too many years ago.

With almost 10,000 students now, we’re looking very much like a dynamic, growing, regional research university, but it’s within that context of a private school experience for our students.

And for me that blending in many ways could be defining for who we are.

q

You’re a big fan of Tarleton’s nickname. Why is that?

a

I think we are very fortunate that we are called, from a mascot viewpoint, the Tarleton Texans. I think Texan means something in a very positive way. To many people the notion of Texan is associated with loyalty, a work ethic and integrity. I believe those have indeed been our historical markers over the years. That pride in place, in character and values, has been very important to this institution.

And I think that’s still apparent to this day.

q

And finally, the student body is changing. What does that do to our image and brand?

a

As we move from having fewer students coming from the farms and ranches of West Texas and more students coming from the urban populations, there is a great blending of those important historical values with a much more diverse population. All of our students have an opportunity to see the world in a different perspective and be exposed to global and multicultural issues. The richness of that environment, I think, is beneficial to the entire campus community.

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Roomies

BY JOE MICHAEL FEIST

In 1987, 25 years ago, Tanya Elston lived in Hunewell Annex 129. Today, Elston is the student assessment coordinator at Tarleton. Her old dorm room is occupied by Cori Hash, a freshman psychology major from Archer City, Texas, and Erika Stumpfrock, a junior ag education major from Graford, Texas. Here’s a “roomies” chat.

Tanya Elston (from left), Cori Hash and Erika Stumpfrock in Hunewell Annex 129.

12

JEREMY ENLOW PHOTO

Favorite spot on campus ELSTON: “I didn’t have a particular spot on campus. It was wherever my friends were hanging out.”

HASH: “Probably the Student Center, or different dorms where my friends live.”

STUMPFROCK: “My favorite place is by the cannon. It makes me think of my dad, who went to school here. He passed away my freshman year of high school. I hang out there when I’m really stressed. It gives me time to feel like I’m talking to my dad.”

How did you/do you listen to music?

ELSTON: “We had cassette tapes to listen to music, or Walkmans.”

HASH: H “I listen to music on my m iPod or on my laptop.”

STUMPFROCK: S “I have Windows W Media, iTunes or CDs. C And I have an MP3.”

What kind of music?

ELSTON: “It was the ’80s so there was a lot of Def Leppard, Aerosmith, Poison. A lot of rock, some country. I liked George Strait, Reba McEntire.”

Food for thought ELSTON: “I ate in the old dining hall.

It wasn’t very pretty.

You could tell it needed lots of work done on it. Breakfast was usually pretty good. The rest of it was hit and miss.”

HASH: “The days I have classes all day I’ll just eat in my dorm because I only have 15 or 20 minutes between classes. I eat a lot of ramen noodles.”

STUMPFROCK: “I mostly eat in the dining hall…. I like the special pastas or steak night.”

HASH: “I like Texas country, Red Dirt country. I really like Aaron Watson.”

STUMPFROCK: “Contemporary Christian or Christian rock, country, alternative.”

Just for fun ELSTON: “One night someone got a big show turkey into the dorm and put it in the stairwell right next to my room and the door going out. They opened the door and the alarm sounded and, of course, the RA came out to see, and when she opened that door there was this big turkey. And it was not happy at all.”

HASH: “One of my friends was down here for Homecoming, and she didn’t know about the Poo. And they came up behind her and kind of gave her a hug. I’ve never seen someone so scared in my entire life. Everyone around was watching and laughing.”

STUMPFROCK: “What was really fun for me was the glow-inthe-dark and capture the flag kind of game. Everyone wears a different color bracelet that glows and you have teams. It’s in Heritage Park at the beginning of the school year. You see a lot of people with ripped pants after that.”

Favorite class ELSTON: “I’d say my education classes were really good.

Dr. Holly Lamb and Dr. Ann Calahan were great.”

HASH: “My psychology class. It’s my major, and the whole subject interests me.”

STUMPFROCK: “My favorite class outside my major was world religions by Dr. (Matthew) Hallgarth.

It was amazing to understand the different cultures and religions of other people.”

13

Together, for the environment 14

James Hunter (right), a TIAER research associate and 2000 Tarleton graduate, and Clayton Whitmire, a junior environmental science major and student technician, perform analytical water testing.

Jeff Stroebel, a TIAER research associate, gathers “grab samples” from the Bosque River.

University moves to integrate environmental offerings, resources When the Texas Institute of Applied Environmental Research (TIAER) was established at Tarleton in 1991, its mandate was pretty simple—explore emerging environmental issues, especially along the Bosque River watershed.

“We became known as the group that did water research in the Bosque,” said Dan Hunter, executive director of TIAER. “What many people didn’t realize is that what we were doing in the Bosque was a precedent for how environmental issues would be handled in the future….

If anything, our constituency has gotten bigger. The issues no longer involve just the Bosque watershed and Texas. They’re issues in watersheds all over the United States.”

Just as TIAER’s role has expanded, so have Tarleton’s efforts in the entire environmental science arena. In fact, Tarleton is continuing a major initiative to integrate environmental studies and research to create a synergy that will propel the university to national status in the environmental sciences.

“One of the things we did was to realign TIAER within the College of Agriculture,” said Dr. Karen Murray, provost and vice president of academic affairs.

“It was an institute of the university, but it was sort of out there. It didn’t have much connection to curriculum, to research within the academy. And so it was realigned, and we changed the name of the college to the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in 2010.

“And we began processes where some of the TIAER staff have received faculty appointments in various colleges. One got a faculty appointment in business because that faculty member was an environmental economist. And then we have some who have partial assignments in the College of Science and Technology and in the Department of Chemistry, Geosciences and Environmental Science.” X

JEREMY ENLOW PHOTO

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For at least a decade, Tarleton officials have been working on ways to approach environmental studies from a multidisciplinary viewpoint.

TIAER and the Bosque River watershed research “got us thinking how agriculture could play a stronger role in environmental concerns,” said Dr. Roger Wittie, head of the Department of Environmental and Agricultural Management. “We had a stakeholders’ meeting in about 2002, and our question was basically: What do you want to see in a graduate? We got quite a bit of feedback.

“We were throwing out ideas to better use the expertise we have from across campus to develop a program that crosses the traditional department lines,” Wittie said.

But funding constraints and organizational issues caused the initiative to be “placed on the back burner” for a few years, he said.

In 2008, Wittie said, “we came back together and discussed it and decided we then had the expertise to work across the disciplines.”

Wittie, Dr. Carol Thompson, professor in the Department of Chemistry, Geoscience and Environmental Science, and others began pushing for a bachelor of science degree in environmental science built around a multidisciplinary concept.

The degree was approved by the state in January 2011.

“We have two recruiting events scheduled in the next year that we hope will draw more students,”

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Wittie said. “We’re seeing an increase in the number of high school students expressing a desire to work somewhere in the environmental area.”

Environmental science majors are exposed to a broad range of subject matter. They take courses from within the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the College of Science and Technology, and even the College of Liberal and Fine Arts.

Cristi Horton, an instructor in the Department of Communication Studies, teaches the communications aspects of environmental science.

“When students start thinking about how they’re going to deal with managing natural resources, their view might only include a couple of dimensions of a very multifaceted approach,” she said.

“A lot of times, they don’t realize that the way people view and talk about resources influences the way we use them. I was just talking to a class about that. We look at how people understand policy that manages our behavior (toward preserving) natural resources.”

Dr. Jeff Justice, assistant professor of political science, teaches environmental politics and policy and is developing a course on environmental law. He said his courses would allow an environmental science major to “learn about the processes of government and how to affect policy changes, what methods to use and who are the key players.”

Tarleton already had a master’s program in environmental science, begun in 2001, but it ran into trouble when the state decided it wasn’t cost-effective.

“It was designed for engineering and hydrology students,” said Wittie. “It never took off. The state threatened to shut it down.

“We said we needed it because we were putting together this baccalaureate through master’s level (environmental sciences)

Stroebel, TIAER research associate in charge of the field crew, and research assistant David Blankenship take water samples from the Bosque River just south of Stephenville.

JEREMY ENLOW PHOTO

Together, for the environment program with the potential of a joint Ph.D. program with Texas A&M,” Wittie said.

Fortunately for Tarleton, the state relented.

“Now we have what we think is a very cohesive pathway,” said Wittie.

Dr. Beth Rinard Hinga, head of the Department of Chemistry, Geoscience and Environmental Science, is redesigning the master’s program to follow the same interdisciplinary model.

“Environmental science, by its very nature, is interdisciplinary,” she said. “The environment covers air and water and soil and animals and plants. So in recognition of that we’ve been trying to collaborate across campus with other people.”

Dr. Thompson is the faculty member who spearheaded the effort for the chemistry, geoscience and environmental science department.

After the B.S. in environmental science was approved, Rinard Hinga said, “we’ve gotten many people together from four different colleges—science, agriculture, liberal and fine arts, as well as the graduate college—to talk about how we can expand this idea into the master’s level.”

The revamped master’s program will have concentrations in water resources, soil and plant sciences, and perhaps even wildlife management, she said.

“This is sort of a grand vision, but I see (expanding the scope of environmental sciences) as a way to bring the campus community to a focus around an academic area.”

For both undergrads and graduate students, TIAER presents instant opportunities for hands-on research on the environment.

As for TIAER, it has continued to develop and grow. Just in the past year, the institute was awarded a $300,000 conservation innovation grant to apply a web-based conservation assessment tool, developed at Tarleton, in Mississippi, and took a lead role in a project to assess the water quality in the Leona River watershed in South Texas. And TIAER is about to embark on a water quality study in Africa.

Also last year, Dr. Ali Saleh, TIAER’s associate director, was invited to assist in developing curriculum at the School of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Costa Rica.

Tarleton officials are convinced that the emphasis on the environment and continued integration of academic and research programs will pay off for students and the university. For one thing, there are jobs aplenty for graduates.

“The field is amazingly rich,” said Thompson. “You can work for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, for the Corps of Engineers. There are all sorts of government and private consulting jobs. This is a field that’s going to continue to grow for years.”

And as the field becomes ever more crucial, Tarleton’s role as a leader will continue to be recognized and celebrated.

“I see the environmental sciences as an extraordinary opportunity for Tarleton to shine,” said Murray, the provost. “It’s a way for Tarleton to stand out in what is probably going to be one of the most critical issues we face in the future.”

— P E T E K E N D A L L C O N T R I B U T E D T O T H I S S T O R Y.

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Rocket Students aim high at international competition

JEREMY ENLOW PHOTOS

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boys 19

BY JOE MICHAEL FEIST

Dustin Neighbors looked around just a tad nervously as he and other Tarleton students gathered in a field near Glen Rose on a warm April day. They were moments away from a test launch of their rocket and attached payload, but the carrier had a slight problem.

“Does NASA just throw the last few rivets in right before launch?” Neighbors wisecracked as physics major Ethan Moore tended to the carrier.

A short while later, the students and a few onlookers whooped and hollered as the rocket lifted off with a giant whooshing sound and soared into the blue Texas sky. The lander and payload separated, but again, there was a problem. A static line malfunctioned, causing a parachute to improperly deploy.

It was back to work for the rocket boys.

The idea The Tarleton Aeronautical Team is the brainchild of Dustin Neighbors, a sophomore engineering physics major and the team leader. He grew up in Dallas and the Lubbock area, and, after graduating from Frenship High in Wolfforth, Texas, spent a couple of years working for his father’s custom harvesting business. He harvested sorghum and other crops in dusty fields from South Texas to Montana, often stopping to repair the complex farm machinery.

That is, until the day he said to himself, I think I can design these machines better. That’s when he enrolled at Tarleton.

About two years ago, Neighbors, now 23, was visiting Cross Plains, where his mother-in-law lives. The two went to a Key Club meeting where area rancher Pat Gordzelick was giving a talk on an international rocket competition called CanSat that he hosted on his ranch.

Neighbors was hooked.

“That’s when I said, I really want to do this,” he recalled. “And this will set me apart from, and my teammates apart from, everybody else that graduates in these fields.”

Neighbors began researching the CanSat competition and looking for the required faculty adviser. He found that adviser in Bo Brawner, a lanky math professor with a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.

“This is completely student-driven,” Brawner explained. “I’m a resource for them, but I’m not making the decisions. They’ve got to make every critical decision.”

Dustin Neighbors solders pieces of the lander.

Neighbors, Moore and eight others make up the Tarleton Aeronautical Team, an interdisciplinary group of students involved in one of the most ambitious student research projects in Tarleton’s history. The students are competing in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Astronautical Society’s international design-buildlaunch competition.

The Tarleton students, said Dr. Bowen Brawner, a math professor and the team’s adviser, “are involved with the end-to-end life cycle of a complex engineering project, from conceptual design through integration and test, actual operation of the system and a post-mission summary and debrief. Their mission is the development of a planetary lander. If that sounds cool, it’s because it is.”

The annual event, called CanSat (can satellite) for short, is open to college and university teams. This year’s competition had 41 teams, including Virginia Tech, the University of Minnesota, the University of Michigan, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and teams from Canada, Turkey, Colombia and India. Tarleton is the only Texas school taking part.

The final stage of the competition, the actual launches, took place June 8-10 near Cross Plains, Texas, south of Abilene, but getting there took months of hard work by the rocket boys.

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Billy Fournier (left) and Ethan Moore assemble elements of the carrier.

The team, the plan To say that the CanSat competition is complex is a vast understatement. CanSat mirrors the life cycle of an actual engineering project in that the design must meet exact specifications. There are weight, size and space restrictions.

There are deployment and telemetry requirements. And each team must work within a certain financial budget.

After an organizational meeting last October, Neighbors and other team members began work on two immediate issues— funding and the preliminary design of the lander and carrier.

“We probably put just as much work into (getting funding) as doing the project,” Neighbors said.

The team presented a 12-page detailed description of CanSat to Tarleton’s Office of Student Research and Creative Activities, resulting in a $6,600 grant.

Then it was on to the design and finalizing the interdisciplinary team. In addition to Neighbors, members are Cletus Furhmann, a senior physics major, Tyler Case, a sophomore chemistry major, Jake Rhodes, a senior engineering physics major, Billy Fournier, a senior math major, Greg Mosier, a junior engineering physics major, Blake Lohn-Wiley, a math graduate student, Ethan Moore, a junior physics major, Keith Coughlin, a senior industrial technology major, and John Phillips, a junior computer science major.

The team spent countless hours over several months on the payload design, which had to be submitted to engineers at the

The rocket boys are Cletus Fuhrmann (from left), Tyler Case, Dustin Neighbors, Jake Rhodes, Billy Fournier, Greg Mosier, Blake Lohn-Wiley, Ethan Moore and Keith Coughlin. The group’s adviser, Dr. Bowen Brawner, is at right.

Naval Research Labs for review. After the design review, Tarleton was ranked 13th out of 41 teams then in the competition.

“We can play with the big boys from anywhere in the world,” Brawner said. X

Rocket boys

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The nuts and bolts

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With the design approved and members in place, the team got down to the nuts and bolts of constructing the lander and carrier.

“Basically, we shoot a payload,” Neighbors said, “and it deploys at the apogee, the top of the altitude. There’s a 640 to 750 meter window to deploy. Then we descend, and we have to control the descent rate within 10 meters per second plus or minus one meter, then we have to slow to five meters per second plus or minus one meter per second. So you have to control how fast you fall down.

“We have to modify the parachutes to be at the right diameter so that they catch the right amount of air to put us at the right descent rate. That all has to be mathematically measured and calculated.

“Of course, the lander has to separate from the carrier. We call it the nut and bolt system. We’re going to put a nut on a very small electrical motor. We’ll weld them together. And when that bolt spins, it has to push the lander down and away. The parachute that will be attached to the lander will have a static line to the carrier so that when it pushes out it’ll pull its own chute and fall away from the carrier.”

And all the while, sophisticated communications have to be maintained between the ground and carrier.

“We’ll have a laptop on the ground that will have a radio controller. The controllers send signals back and forth and talk to each other.”

Air temperature, pressure, altitude, descent rate and more have to be registered and sent back to the ground and displayed in real time.

The actual payload is an egg, which has to survive 30 g’s of force.

“When the carrier hits the ground it will only be going about 5 meters per second,” Neighbors said. “The actual force you have to worry about for the egg is the launch, not the landing. The rocket will expend a lot of acceleration on your components.”

Other teams, Neighbors said, will likely consist entirely of aeronautical engineering majors. He believes Tarleton’s interdisciplinary team is actually a blessing.

“While everyone contributed to everything, we sort of divided up major duties based on strengths,” he said.

Fournier and Lohn-Wiley, for example, were in charge of the software and wrote all the codes “that make the whole thing tick,” Neighbors said. And Lohn-Wiley handled the formulas for parachutes and descent control.

Rhodes handled the hardware, batteries and power consumption.

Case, the chemistry major, tackled the egg protection, testing gels and organic “doughs” before settling on a polyurethane mold.

Moore took the lead in the structure and manufacturing of the lander and carrier, with help from Mosier.

In addition to contributing to the power circuitry, Furhmann was in charge of the documentation and technical writing, while Coughlin did all the AutoCad (computer assisted) drawings for the design.

Biology professor Russell Pfau (center), also director of the Office of Student Research and Creative Activities, works with students on a research project.

Down to the wire The rocket boys spent months on test launches, perfecting the equipment and design. At the actual competition in Cross Plains, CanSat’s organizers will provide the rockets to all the teams, but the testing required the Tarleton team to put together their own motors. That required another level of knowledge.

At the first test, Case recalled, “we tried to set up the motors in a series, and only the first one went off, so it actually shot off at a very bad angle and hit the ground hard. Really horrible.”

But now, Neighbors and the team are confident. And no matter what happens in Cross Plains, the Tarleton Aeronautical Team is already making plans for an even more ambitious project—the NASA University Student Launch Initiative. That competition requires teams to design and build a reusable rocket and launch a scientific or engineering payload to one mile above ground level.

“Tarleton,” said Neighbors, “is playing ball on an international level.” And, he added with a fearless grin, “And when we win it all, well …”

The Tarleton Aeronautical Team placed sixth out of 41 teams in the international collegiate CanSat competition held June 8-10 near Cross Plains, Texas.

Only one U.S. team ranked higher. To view a video, visit

www.tarleton.edu/

Rocketboys

Student research thriving For practically its entire history, Tarleton was a purely teaching institute emphasizing the traditional professor-student dynamic: instructor lecturing, students taking notes. A few profs were doing projects involving students and research, but not many.

That began to change a few years back. Now, with the creation in 2009 of the Office of Student Research and Creative Activities, a robust student research program is joining action to learning.

“We cover not just hardcore research like you might see in the sciences but also educational-type research, sports-related research, arts research and creative projects,” said Dr. Russell Pfau, a biology professor and head of the office.

“The past couple of years we’ve had about a $200,000 budget that we can give to students in various ways,” Pfau said. Research grants can go toward supplies and equipment students need.

And research assistantships are awarded as a stipend that goes toward living expenses “so students can focus full-time on their research,” he added.

Other grants support student travel to research symposiums and discipline-specific conferences.

“My opinion is that more can be learned from doing one research project than a year of course work alone,” said Dr. Jennifer Blevins-McNaughton, assistant professor of kinesiology and longtime supporter of undergraduate research.

She said undergraduate research opportunities give an advantage to students who want to attend graduate school or professional programs.

Research “compliments the things they’re learning in the classroom,” Pfau said. “But in the classroom, students are typically learning what people have already discovered…. If you can get students who are really motivated and interested, they can actually make a contribution to the discipline and take what they’ve learned and apply it to create new knowledge.”

Another plus, he said, is that “engagement in student research has been shown to increase retention. Particularly, students who are first-generation, low income, are more likely to drop out of college, but if they’re involved in research, especially early on, that gives them motivation to continue through—because they are contributing something to society.”

But students aren’t the only beneficiaries of research, Blevins-McNaughton said.

“These projects are also in place to help enhance faculty research, publication, and potential external funding,” she said. “Faculty who are actively engaged in research make the best teachers.”

—JOE MICHAEL FEIST

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Teresa Lozano Long at the University of Texas at Austin in 1948, from UT’s yearbook, the Cactus.

Joe R. Long during his Tarleton days, from the 1949 Grassburr.

ALong Partner Austin couple passionate about education, the arts

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R O B I N J E R S TA D P H O T O

Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long, in their west Austin home.

ship

BY TRACY HOBSON LEHMANN

In more than a half-century of marriage, there’s been a lot more “we say” than “he says” and “she says” in the marriage of philanthropists Joe R. and Teresa “Terry” Lozano Long.

Privately and through the Long Foundation, the Austin couple has given about $105 million since 1998 in support of education and the arts, starting with a $1 million gift to Tarleton, Joe’s alma mater before the University of Texas. When Joe studied liberal arts at Tarleton from 1947 to 1949, it was John Tarleton Agricultural College, a two-year school. Over the years, the Longs have given $3 million to Tarleton.

Legendary Tarleton professor Dick Smith’s bequest to the university inspired Joe to set up endowments rather than just giving money. Smith, one of Joe’s professors, left his estate to the university, which sold land for about $230,000. “The last time I checked, it was worth more than $2 million,” he said, and it has provided scholarships to students every year.

“We’ve always done everything together,” says Joe. “She doesn’t go off and do something. I don’t go off and do something. We travel together. We do our philanthropy together. We have a partnership.”

After 54 years, he can say that. But it’s a union that almost didn’t happen.

They had dated about two years while she was pursuing a doctorate at the University of Texas, a long-held dream, and he was in law school at UT. The first time Joe asked Terry to marry him, she said no.

He asked again. And again and again.

“Finally one night I said, ‘I’m not asking you again,’ ” he says, his voice stern as he remembers the ultimatum.

“I just didn’t know what we were going to live on,” says Terry. X

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Fast-forward 54 years and their world bears little resemblance to that of cash-strapped newlywed students with an apartment on Speedway and date nights for 19-cent burgers at 2-J Hamburgers on North Lamar Boulevard.

Joe turned 82 this year, and Terry will celebrate her 84th birthday in July. He worked as an attorney and as a banker.

She never taught at the college level as planned, but affected education in her work with the Texas Education Agency and federal programs such as Head Start.

Some of their major contributions have gone to: the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, for scholarship, research and teaching endowments; the city for the renovation of Austin’s Palmer Auditorium, now the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts; and the permanent endowment of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

Their hearts are in education and the arts. Both were high school valedictorians, Terry in Premont and Joe in Centerville. Both came from working-class families that placed a premium on education.

Joe and Terry met in 1955 in drought-parched Alice, where she was teaching physical education in junior high school and he was teaching government and history and coaching debate at William Adams High School. Young adults were almost as scarce as rain and social activities there. Both were University of Texas grads, her with a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in education, him with a bachelor of arts degree. But their paths hadn’t crossed on the Austin campus.

Joe R. Long taught history, government and debate at William Adams High School in Alice, Texas, in 1955.

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Joe immediately liked Terry. “She was very vivacious, cute as a bug,” he says, recalling Terry coming home while he and some other teachers were visiting her roommate.

The spark was slower to ignite for her.

“I really don’t remember much about it,” Terry says of their first meeting, and both laugh as he adds, “She had zero interest in me.”

Joe persisted, taking Terry and her roommate to movies on Saturday nights.

“Her roommate thought I was going with her,” Joe says, and Terry quickly chimes in, “So did I!” They were good partners on the dance floor the few times they headed west about 10 miles to the community of San Diego to meet a group of friends. But Terry’s focus wasn’t to be diverted from education.

“I wanted to help kids go to college,” she says. “I was determined to get my doctoral degree. I wanted to teach on the college level.”

It was the first time Mexican American students in Alice were integrated with Anglo children at the junior-high level, she recalls, and she was the only Hispanic on the faculty after one other, the Spanish teacher, left at midterm. It was an opportunity to motivate children who might not consider going to college.

In his year at the high school, Joe earned a reputation as a good teacher and a firm disciplinarian.

“He got us excited,” recalls Butch Williams, president of the William Adams High School Class of 1956. “He taught civics and knew the topic inside and out. He had the kind of personality that allowed him to effectively deliver all that knowledge. He was also one of those that the minute someone started crossing the line discipline-wise, he had a very effective way of shutting it off.

“He was as good a teacher as you could ever have,” says Williams, who went on to earn a Ph.D. in botany and retired from teaching after more than 40 years. “I drew a lot of lessons for my own experience from what he did.”

When the school year ended in Alice, both returned to UT. She worked toward the doctorate she had begun the previous summer, and he pursued a law degree. Joe worked multiple jobs—as a dishwasher and waiter at a boarding house and as a teacher at a school for developmentally challenged children. And they dated, going to the library to study and out on weekends when they could.

After Joe and Terry married in 1958, they sold one of their two cars and Terry went to work at a job she feared she would lose because of her typing skills. She also felt the pressure of having to rush home after work to cook their dinner—an unfamiliar chore she didn’t love—so Joe could get to a class.

“She cried a lot the first year,” Joe says.

But they worked things out. “You either have to work through it or get a divorce,” he says matter of factly. X

R O B I N J E R S TA D P H O T O

ALong Partnership

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Through the years, they have enjoyed traveling, though the trips have mellowed from adventurous destinations such as Antarctica and Papua, New Guinea, to less demanding extended cruises. They also share a passion for art.

Austin attorney and longtime friend Larry Temple remembers when the Longs began collecting art. “They were interested always in art and music, and they were in the process of being acquirers of art as young marrieds while the rest of us were disposing of our discretionary dollars elsewhere.”

Rooms inside their Colonial-style home brim with art. Light glints off Baccarat crystal chandeliers—some of them antique— and Joe turns curator in explaining painters and paintings in the collection. A Van Gogh over the mantel is book-ended by two Mary Cassatt works. The roll call includes Monet, Manet, Gauguin, Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec, and that’s just in the living room.

“Every room in the house is full of it, including the bathrooms,” Joe says. A Picasso lithograph hangs in a guest bathroom, a Matisse lithograph in a powder room.

Their first School of Paris acquisition, a Pierre Bisiaux painting of a vase of flowers on a blue background, hasn’t appreciated much beyond the $1,800 Joe paid for it in 1968. “I still like it,” he says.

That purchase might have been a unilateral decision, Joe says, but Terry adds with a characteristic touch of practicality, “Well, we didn’t have anything on the walls at the time.”

The Longs do not have children, but they beam like proud grandparents talking about their godsons, ages 3 and almost 1. Snapshots of the little boys sit on a foyer console beneath a 6-by-8-foot painting by post-Impressionist French painter Paul Aizpiri.

The value the Austin couple places on their partnership is reflected not only in their marriage, but also in their philosophy of giving. There have been few blank checks or free rides.

Most beneficiaries of their giving have been expected to chip in, whether it’s toward a fundraising goal or, in the case of scholarship recipients, education costs.

The Longs provide scholarships at eight colleges and universities in Texas, public and private. About 75 Tarleton students each year receive scholarships in liberal arts, education and the sciences. The Longs also endow faculty positions at various universities, including the Joe and Teresa Long Endowed Chair in Social Sciences at Tarleton, held by Dr. Jesús Velasco.

Says friend Larry Temple, “Terry and Joe do not lightly and idly write checks. … Not only are they selective about where they put their money but they do their due diligence to make sure their money is being used as they intended for it to be.”

When approached for a $20 million contribution for a performing arts center in Austin, Terry initially was taken aback at the notion of the facility bearing their name. Joe didn’t push.

After much thought, she agreed, knowing the educational benefits the symphony, ballet and opera offer to children.

About 4,300 donors contributed to that five-year fundraising effort, including a little girl who chipped in $8.67 from lemonade sales.

“You accomplish more if you get more people involved,” Joe says.

He appreciates a good partner.

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Joe and Terry Long dance at the John Tarleton Society induction gala in August 2011.

Tarleton President F. Dominic Dottavio (right) presents an honorary doctorate to Austin philanthropist Joe R. Long (left) during commencement ceremonies May 12.

Dr. Richard A. Box, chairman of The Texas A&M System Board of Regents, looks on.

Longs receive honorary doctorates Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long, longtime friends and supporters of Tarleton, received honorary doctor of humane letters degrees during Tarleton’s commencement ceremonies May 12.

The Longs have been advocates of the arts and institutes of higher education, including Tarleton. Joe Long is a Tarleton alum, having attended the school from 1947-49. Among other gifts to Tarleton, the Longs funded the Joe and Teresa Long Endowed Chair in Social Sciences.

In presenting the degrees, President F. Dominic Dottavio said the Longs are “models of engaged citizenship and service to others.”

After the ceremony, the president and Lisette Dottavio hosted a luncheon for Mr. Long at the Trogdon House. Due to illness, Mrs. Long did not attend the commencement ceremony.

Dr. Richard A. Box, chairman of The Texas A&M System Board of Regents, and his wife, Lynn, also attended the commencement and lunch.

ALong Partnership

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The Cleaning Lady

BY JOE MICHAEL FEIST

It’s 4 a.m. when Maureen Scantling pulls up at Wisdom Gym. She’s been up since 2, after sleeping only four hours or so. She scans her key card and enters the dark, quiet caverns of the facility. More than likely, she’s the first person there. She checks all the doors, making sure that they’re locked and nothing is amiss. She grabs a radio and the door keys she’ll need.

Then, dressed in jeans and a familiar blue smock, she gets ready to work.

“I clean,” she says. “That’s what I do. I clean.”

Scantling is a Tarleton environmental worker, a janitor, and she has been since Sept. 18, 1989—nearly 23 years. “I’ve spent almost half my life here,” she says in a quiet, gentle voice.

“I’ll start sweeping and mopping the floors, scrubbing, whatever I need to do to them,” Scantling says. “And then I’ll do my locker room. Clean the toilets, urinals, sweep and mop, sanitize everything. Clean the showers. Whatever needs cleaning, I do.”

Sooner or later, she’ll walk by the huge, purple block-T on the floor of the gym’s foyer. That’s her T. “I keep that Tarleton T all shined up,” Scantling says, smiling broadly, especially before home basketball games. “I take a lot of pride in keeping it looking great.”

The 50-year-old Stephenville native says she likes what she does, doesn’t mind the 4 a.m. to 1 p.m. schedule (“You just get used to it after a while”) and enjoys the people she works with and the students she says hello to every day.

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People “tell me how good my floors look,” Scantling says. “That makes me feel real good.”

In 23 years, Scantling has witnessed a lot of change at Tarleton—new buildings, new presidents, new programs, much growth. But in all that time, one incident stands out for Scantling, and it has nothing to do with academics or sports or research or recognition. It has to do with heart.

For many years, Scantling was assigned to work in the Hydrology and Engineering Building. One day in 2001, Scantling says, her husband was doing some home repairs. “He fell off the porch of the house and broke both his legs. It was a hard time for me in my life, really.”

She needed time off to help her husband mend, it was tough financially, there were worries and stress, Scantling recalls.

Then, from Scantling’s perspective, an amazing thing happened. The people, the professors and staff whose offices she swept and mopped and dusted and sweat over every day, fixed her and her family a meal so she wouldn’t have to cook.

A meal. It was that simple and that powerful.

“I was totally shocked,” Scantling says. “I was shocked when they did that for me, because I’m not used to anybody doing anything for me. Never.”

Later, when she was having health issues of her own, “They were just constantly wanting to know how I’m doing and asking about me or sending cards,” she says.

Tarleton is “like a family,” Scantling says over and over as she tells her story. Teachers and staff she’s worked for through the years “invite me to their Christmas parties or whatever they have, they invite me.”

Scantling mentions the benefits of working at Tarleton, the medical insurance, vacation, sick leave. Good benefits, she says.

But the greatest blessing?

“Knowing that people actually care for you.”

And then she’s off, back to the mops, the cleaning rags and that purple block-T she’s so very proud to shine.

Lonn Reisman Athletics director and head men’s basketball coach Lonn Reisman picked up his 500th victory at Tarleton on his first attempt with a 78-53 win over Texas A&MCommerce on Jan. 21 at Wisdom Gym. The Texans wore throwback uniforms for the game, which read “team,” “family” or “believe.” On that Saturday night, the Tarleton men’s basketball team showed exactly what those concepts mean.

Reisman was emotional after the game.

“I’ve given my life to this university, and I’m trying to do it the right way,” he said. “I want to thank you.

You’ve been the best fans for 24 years that anyone could ever hope for. God bless.”

And he looked back to his first days at Tarleton.

“When I first started at Tarleton, I never thought about things like winning 500 games. I wasn’t even thinking about winning 100,” said Reisman. “The program had been down for so long, I just wanted to win one. Well we got one, then we got some more, then I found myself falling in love with this community and with this university. Now, it’s 24 years later and I’m still here, so I guess I must love this place a whole lot, and they must like me OK, too.”

COACHING MILESTONES

—ROSS BAGIENSKI

Ronnie Hearne

Tarleton TexAnn head basketball coach Ronnie Hearne is part of a very elite club.

In his ninth year at Tarleton, Hearne earned win No. 1,000 in his career with a 78-70 win against Eastern New Mexico in early January.

“Looking back, I’ve just been blessed to coach a lot of special ladies,” said Hearne, who witnessed long win streaks and great players at Millsap and Jacksboro high schools, Cisco Junior College and Tarleton. “I’m blessed to have been a part of those teams, I’m blessed to be at Tarleton, and I’m blessed to have a really great job.”

Tarleton President F. Dominic Dottavio said, “The basketball program at Tarleton has a long tradition of athletic and academic excellence. Coach Hearne’s achievement is a testament to his many years of dedication to his student-athletes both on and off the court. Congratulations to a true gentleman and mentor, and to our student-athletes for their dedication and commitment to TexAnn basketball.”

A small celebration took place after the game in the auxiliary gym at Eastern New Mexico with fans, parents, players and family there to congratulate Coach Hearne on his accomplishment.

—ROSS BAGIENSKI

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VOLLEYBALL

After going through a 1-5 rough patch in October, the Tarleton TexAnns rallied to finish the regular season on a five-game winning streak to advance to their fifth LSC Championship Tournament in six years.

FOOTBALL

With an overall 6-5 record, Tarleton wrapped up the 2011 campaign with a fivegame winning streak and high hopes for 2012.

The Texans started the year against a gauntlet of tough competition.

Four of the team’s five losses came against opponents that finished the season in the top 25 nationally. The other loss came against Division I opponent Texas State on the road.

“I am really proud of the way our kids battled when times were tough,” said head coach Cary Fowler. “We faced some of the best teams in the country early on in the year and we folded at times. But as the season progressed, we stepped up in those same situations. It showed our young guys can adapt in the face of adversity.”

Sophomore defensive back Dashaun Phillips led Tarleton and the conference with seven interceptions and was named the Lone Star Conference Defensive Back of the Year.

Sophomore linebacker Marquis Wadley finished in the top 10 in the nation in total tackles, solo tackles and tackles

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per game. He also led the LSC in tackles with 119.

—ROSS BAGIENSKI

MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Tarleton men’s basketball program enjoyed one of the most successful seasons in school history en route to a 27-6 record, a Lone Star Conference regular season title and trips to both the LSC and NCAA tournaments.

The Texans had an amazingly effective start to the season and jumped out to a 20-1 record, the best in school history. They finished the year 18-1 at home in the friendly confines of Wisdom Gym. Throughout the

season, the Texans were nationally ranked and reached as high as No. 3 in the NCAA Division II rankings.

The Texans went on to advance to their third straight LSC Tournament Championship game before falling to Midwestern State. They also made it to the second round of the NCAA South Central Regional tournament before a loss to Arkansas Tech ended the season.

“I was very proud of this team and the staff for what they were able to accomplish this year,” said Reisman. “We always strive to be the best we can be and we work hard year round in order to meet those goals,” said Coach Lonn Reisman.

—ROSS BAGIENSKI

In the postseason, the TexAnns exacted some revenge on Texas Woman’s, who beat Tarleton in both regular season meetings, by sending them home after four sets in the first round.

The season came to a close in the semi-finals when Tarleton was swept by eventual LSC Champions, West Texas A&M. — N AT H A N B U R A L

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

For the first time in school history, the Tarleton TexAnns are the champions of the Lone Star Conference.

After piecing together a 15-game winning streak to start conference play,

Tarleton came out on top of the standings when the regular season came to a close and received the No. 1 seed at the championship tournament at the Allen Event Center.

In the tournament, Tarleton knocked off Eastern New Mexico and Angelo State before holding off streaking Incarnate Word in the finals. Peyton Adamson was named tournament MVP while Shanae Lowrance and Kiara Wright earned all-tournament team honors.

After the tournament, the TexAnns were selected to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season and fourth time in school history.

Seniors Shelby Adamson, Morgan Stehling, Lisa Parker and Tara Towns wrapped up their careers as the alltime winningest senior class since Tarleton joined the NCAA in 1994.

— N AT H A N B U R A L

TRACK AND FIELD

The Tarleton track and field team has once again put the Texans and TexAnns into the national spotlight with another successful season. Jeff Smith and Nikki McNorton have qualified for the 2012 Outdoor Track and Field National Championships in Pueblo, Colo., in the 400m dash and high jump respectively. In addition to earning a trip to nationals, Smith and McNorton, along with junior Lindsey Hinton, earned all-region honors this season. Hinton was the LSC champion in the 5000m run while setting school records over the course of the season in the 1500m run and 5000m run. McNorton also won the high jump at the LSC meet.

WOMEN’S GOLF

The TexAnn golf team finished fifth at the NCAA Division II National Championships, their sixth straight top five finish in the event. Tarleton also claimed its sixth straight

against ranked teams, including a three-game sweep of then-No. 2 West Texas A&M to begin conference play in March.

regional championship and fifth straight LSC championship tournament. Tarleton was victorious in seven tournaments this season and has won 40 of their last 62 tournaments, dating back to the 200607 season. The TexAnns, who are led by the LSC Player of the Year Jacqueline Lau and LSC Academic Player of the Year Sharon Lau, have finished in the top six in all 62 events and in the top three in 52 of those 62 tournaments.

BASEBALL

SOFTBALL

The Tarleton TexAnns found success on the softball diamond this season after finishing with a 31-20 record and their 11th trip to the Lone Star Conference Championship in school

history. Leading the way for the TexAnns this season was Katie Welborn, who was recently named an All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

Welborn is the fourth TexAnn in school history to earn All-American honors. Also making headlines this season were Samantha Swanda, who led the team in RBIs and doubles while leading the conference in innings pitched and strikeouts during the regular season. Arianna Rodriguez became the school’s all-time home run leader during the regular season, passing Alicia Petersma’s previous career mark of 31. The TexAnns finished third in the LSC but finished the regular season with an impressive 7-1 mark

The Tarleton Texan baseball team wrapped up another successful season after making a trip to their fourth straight Lone Star Conference tournament.

The Texans provided excitement as the Cinderella story, making it all the way to the championship game before falling to eventual champs Angelo State.

At 30-19 on the year, Tarleton had its fourth straight season of 25 or more wins. In just his fourth year in charge of the Texans, head coach Bryan Conger recorded his 100th career victory at Tarleton against Eastern New Mexico in March.Also, junior pitcher Pete Perez was named first team allconference and second team all-region.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

The Tarleton TexAnn tennis team has been ranked as high as No. 20 in the nation this season without a single senior on the roster. After finishing the regular season, the TexAnns earned the No. 4 seed in the tournament and proceeded to dominate Midwestern State in the first round.

Karla Martinez earned LSC Newcomer of the Year honors while Melanie Barnes earned the conference’s coveted Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship of the Year award.Barnes and Martinez were also named an all-conference doubles team along with Alicia Perez and Mackenzie Mitchell.

Martinez and Perez were also all-conference singles players and Barnes was an allacademic.

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The 2012 Athletic Hall of Fame inductees are (back from left) Mike A. Myers, Sherman Perry, James Dearth, Tomas Green, Spivey Thomas, (front from left) Mike Myers, Monica Garza, Jeff Smith and Pat Jones.

ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME

Induction 2012 Nine former student-athletes were selected to the Tarleton Athletic Hall of Fame and were inducted into the 2011-2012 class during Hall of Fame Weekend May 4-5.

The nine joined 133 other Athletic Hall of Fame members.

Monica Garza Monica Garza is a career-record holder for the TexAnn softball team, and dominated the LSC from 2003-04. With a .479 batting average as a senior, Garza racked up 69 hits, 15 doubles, 34 runs and a .799 slugging percentage. That season earned Garza AllAmerican, All-Region, and All-LSC honors en route to one of the best seasons in Tarleton softball history. Not only was she successful on the field, but also in the classroom, being the first student-athlete accepted into the sports medicine program. Garza went on to play professionally in the Women’s Professional Fastpitch League for the Texas Thunder. She is now a successful coach and physical education teacher and resides in Carrollton.

Mike A. Myers Tom Green, Pat Jones, Jeff Smith and Spivey Thomas The quartet of Green, Jones, Smith and Thomas set the Tarleton record in the 4x400-meter relay in 1991 with a time of 3:10.24. That broke the previous record of 3:11.3 set in 1977. On top of their all-time mark, Smith, Jones and Green earned NAIA All-American honors four times. Thomas, who was just a sophomore in 1991, was named All-American three times for his achievements. Together, the four Texan runners won event after event from 1990-1991, including a pair of TIAA Championships. They also helped the Tarleton men’s team win the overall conference championship in 1991, as all four of the runners competed in multiple events.

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Myers spent two years at Tarleton State College before eventually moving on to the University of Texas at Austin, from which he graduated in 1959. During his stint in Stephenville, Myers was a split end for the Plowboys and a sprinter on the track team.

He started for a strong Tarleton team that won the first conference championship since 1928. Myers went on to become a successful businessman.He has been honored with Distinguished Alumnus (1978), Ring of Honor (2004) and the President’s All-Purple Award honors.

James Dearth Dearth was a two-time second team AllAmerican in football and an All-American in the shot put. Drafted in 1996 in the sixth round by the Cleveland Browns, Dearth is

a 12-year veteran of the National Football League as a deep snapper. While at Tarleton, the former tight end earned AllLone Star Conference honors, as well as a number of other accolades. Besides being an NFL player, Dearth has found a number of ways to give back to the community, using his morals and faith to impact young peoples’ lives.

Mike Myers Myers is Tarleton’s all-time career and single season leader in extra points with 85 and 37 respectively. Myers was a fouryear letter winner for the Texans and had 154 points all-time. During one stretch, he hit 54 straight extra-points. Earning All-TIAA honors and second team NAIA AllAmerica honors, Myers will be celebrated as one of the best placekickers in Texan history. He even kicked the game-winning field goal in the 1985 Sunflower Bowl to give Tarleton its first-ever bowl victory.

Sherman Perry Perry was a standout player for the Tarleton men’s basketball team from 196769. He was named team MVP and team captain in 1968, when he averaged 16.2 points per game. After his playing days, Perry went on to coach basketball. He has been involved in St. John Baptist Church as a deacon, as well as serving on various committees and organizations. After 37 years affiliated with Tarleton, Perry continues to take an influential role in the university.

PRE-GAME RITUAL 1 “I always listen to myy

PRE-GAME RITUAL 2 “I drank a glass of sweet tea before PRE

iPod touch before a game. And it’s always s calming music. Not too intense or loud orr fast-paced. Otherwise I’d foul out in a hurry.” rry.”

ever every game. And if we were away my coaches knew they had to ge get me a sweet tea. I just started doing it in my freshman year and it worked out pretty well. So I kept it going.”

FAVORITE ATHLETE “I have to be cliché and say Tim Tebow. I love his work ethic and the leadership values he portrays, and how bold he is about his faith.”

BEST SPORTS MOMENT “Winning the Lone Star Conference this year, especially for the seniors on the team. Because when we came in we were nowhere near that level.”

FAVORITE MOVIE “Probably Baby Mama. It’s one of those movies that make you laugh every time.

Even though you know the jokes that are coming, they’re funny every time.”

SPOTLIGHT

Shelby Adamson

PAGE TURNER “One of my favorite books is Redeeming Love

by Francine Rivers. It’s a love story based off a Bible story, but it’s not your typical love story.”

BY JOE MICHAEL FEIST

Shelby Adamson never wanted to play basketball in college until March of her senior year in high school. And, at the time, she didn’t know Tarleton existed. Now, after four years as a TexAnn standout, she and the university are glad she changed her mind and glad Tarleton came into the picture.

The 5-foot-7-inch guard out of Rockwall High School made her mark her freshman year, starting in all 28 contests. In fact, she played in all 120 games of her four-year Tarleton career, setting several TexAnn records in the process.

As a sophomore, she was named the Lone Star Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and was the conference Academic Player of the Year as a junior.

Adamson, who Coach Ronnie Hearne called “the ultimate competitor,” comes from a basketball family. Her mom Dana played point guard at Ole Miss, dad Chris played at LeTourneau, brother Braxton plays at Dallas Baptist, and sister Peyton was a TexAnn teammate.

Off the court, Adamson was a 3.84 GPA math major before graduating in May with a B.S. in math and teacher certification. While she may pursue a master’s degree at Tarleton, her ultimate goal is to be a high school math teacher and perhaps a coach.

One thing is for sure. She’s now heard of Tarleton, and Tarleton has heard of her.

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TEXANS Going nuclear

COURTESY COMANCHE PEAK

ALUMNI PROFILE

Kathryn Rogge B.S.’08

BY KURT MOGONYE

In the shadows of the ping-pong balllike concrete domes of the two reactors—a distinctive landmark just north of Glen Rose—toils Kathryn Rogge, a nuclear technologist and Tarleton alumnae who is on a mission to ensure the continued safe operation of Comanche Peak Power Plant.

Behind multiple layers of security, Rogge’s duties within the plant’s Equipment Reliability Department involve monitoring the reliability of systems along with a team of program owners, all highly

36

skilled problem solvers, who act as a crucial component among the more than 1,300 employees at the 2,300-megawatt nuclear power plant.

“I’ve had some strange reactions when I say where I work,” said Rogge. “I get these looks like, ‘seriously’ or ‘are you crazy?’ I like saying I work at a nuclear power plant, because there are not many who can say that.”

While a student studying mathematics, the Glen Rose native pursued and was offered a part-time internship through Comanche Peak’s industrial technology program a full year before earning her bachelor’s degree from Tarleton.

Following rotations in two of the plant’s

departments, Rogge was offered a fulltime position after receiving her degree in the fall of 2008.

“Having a math degree showed that I was intelligent and could solve problems, which gave me a big advantage,” said Rogge, who in 2011 earned a second bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering technology from the University of North Texas.

Whether it’s a day spent conducting valve checks using acoustic testing methods, producing performance index reports for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or serving as the backup heat exchange engineer during a refueling shutdown outage, Rogge understands the magnitude of her decisions and calculations.

“For systems and equipment that are important to the safe shutdown of the reactor, we cannot have those systems and equipment out of service or unreliable,” she said. “If the unavailability time exceeds a certain amount or if equipment experiences too many failures, then corrective actions have to be taken. My job is to oversee most of this process. It can be stressful with the safety concerns constantly on our minds, but we can be proud of ourselves and have a sense of accomplishment.”

Luminant, the parent company of the power plant, is currently evaluating the potential expansion of Comanche Peak and is seeking approval for two new units, totaling 3,400 MW, that could provide enough nuclear energy to power over 1.5 million Texas homes.

With the proposed expansion at the second-youngest nuclear power facility in the U.S., Rogge has her sights set on moving into the plant’s control room as a senior reactor operator. She’ll soon apply for an 18-month licensing program.

“There is a lot of knowledge to gain,” said Rogge. “Even today, when I walk out into the plant I’m still impressed. It looks so complex, all the systems and how they work together. I want to learn everything about those systems that I can.”

Nuclear energy has a bright future, she said, and in the coming years there will be many vacancies to be filled.

“Where I’m at now, I will have five years experience to put me in a good position to advance.”

If not for Tarleton…

R O B I N J E R S TA D P H O T O

ALUMNI PROFILE

Mark Washington B.B.A.’93

BY JOE MICHAEL FEIST

It’s a long way from the housing projects of inner-city Port Arthur, Texas, to his office on Barton Springs Road in Austin.

And without Tarleton, said Mark Washington, the journey wouldn’t have been possible at all.

Washington, director of Human Resources and Civil Service for the City of Austin, oversees the city’s workforce of about 12,000 employees in all areas of recruitment, selection, classification, compensation, training, benefits, safety training and risk management.

“I’d certainly not be on this career path without Tarleton,” he said flatly.

Washington, 39, was born in Louisiana but grew up in Port Arthur in a rough neighborhood filled with the challenges of poverty, unemployment and crime.

“I had been a good student in high school, but there are a lot of social distractions in an urban setting like Port Arthur,” he recalled. “Peer pressure. Gangs.”

He was looking for something different, a way out, and the opportunity came knocking in the face of Tarleton.

“One of my high school coaches, Willie Williams, became a coach at Tarleton, and he got me interested in the school and recruited me to play football,” Washington said. “And then I was accepted into the Presidential Honors Scholars Program. It was just a great opportunity to combine academics and sports.”

The football part of the equation didn’t last long, but Washington threw himself into his studies and extracurricular activities.

In addition to being an honors scholar, he was an All-America Collegiate Scholar, a recipient of the National Collegiate Minority Leadership award, and received Tarleton’s most prestigious student honor, the John Tarleton Spirit Award.

He graduated magna cum laude in 1993 and spoke at the commencement ceremony.

“The No. 1 thing I remember about Tarleton is that the relationships I built with the professors were very unique,” he said. “They had a genuine interest in me, not only in the classroom but outside.”

He singled out Dr. Jerry Madkins, a Tarleton business professor at the time who served as his adviser and, more importantly, inspiration.

“Dr. Madkins was a teacher, had owned a business and was pastor at St. John’s Baptist Church in Stephenville,” Washington recalled. “All of that resonated with me. His path and mine are similar.”

So much so that Washington went on to earn a master of arts and a doctorate degree in education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. He’s now pastor of Vision of Hope AME Church in Austin and serves on a number of boards and civic and professional organizations.

Madkins, now retired and living in Henderson, Texas, said Washington’s success is a testament to hard work and dedication.

“He was a superstar student, for sure,” Madkins said. “He was highly motivated and very well liked. He came to Tarleton at a time when there weren’t that many African Americans, so he was sort of a trailblazer. I was glad to have him in my classes.

He was an inspiration to me.”

Washington, who worked as the assistant director of human resources for the City of Fort Worth for 13 years before moving to Austin, is fond of Tarleton for another reason. It was here that he met his wife, Ardina Greer Washington, who earned two Tarleton degrees, a B.B.A. in 1991 and an M.B.A. in 1994. They have two children.

Washington is on the advisory board for Tarleton’s College of Business Administration and has spoken at several career/ professional days at the university.

“I do what I can to come back and give back,” he said. “The Tarleton experience is something I’ll always remember.”

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Coach, teacher, friend

COURTESY KERRY BARBOZA, B O E R N E S TA R

ALUMNI PROFILE

Stan Leech B.S.’83, M.Ed.’84

BY JOE MICHAEL FEIST

He’s got 687 wins on the basketball court under his belt, and he doesn’t feel like he’s worked a day in his career.

Stan Leech, athletic director at Boerne Independent School District and boys basketball coach at Boerne Champion High School, has been recognized as one of the top high school coaches in the Southwest, and has the record to prove it.

His teams have made 22 state playoff appearances, earned 11 district championships, advanced to the third round of the boy’s basketball playoffs or higher 10 times and made two state basketball tournament appearances, 1990 and 2008.

In 2007, the University Interscholastic League named Leech the Texas Basketball Coach of the Year. He then won the award as the best high school basketball coach in the Southwest.

But the true legacy of the man goes far beyond wins and losses and playoffs. To current and former players, Leech is father figure, mentor and friend.

“In the short term,” he said, “I teach basketball. In the long term, I teach character and humility.”

Leech, 52, grew up in Brownfield, south of Lubbock, where he graduated from high school in 1978, ran track and played basketball.

“I went to South Plains Junior College and ran track,” he said.

“When I finished at South Plains in 1980, I was looking for a place to finish up. I wanted to run. So I went to the library and looked up schools.”

Leech and his father decided to take a drive to Stephenville to check out Tarleton. After meeting football coach and athletic director Buddy Fornes and track coach Joe Gillespie, Leech was sold.

“They were just awesome recruiters and awesome gentlemen,” Leech recalled. “I went to Tarleton because of them.”

Leech’s brother eventually joined him, and “we both just loved it all,” he said.

“It sounds cliché, but Tarleton felt like home immediately,” he

38 TEXANS

said.

Leech ran track in 1980-82, and then, while still a student, became Tarleton’s volleyball coach.

“I was hanging around the athletic director’s office and heard them talking about a volleyball coach,” he said, chuckling. “I had never played volleyball but I told them I’d learn.”

He got the job, coached for a year and had a winning record.

“We beat Sul Ross, and that was a thrill,” Leech recalled.

A more long lasting thrill, and another reason Leech is grateful for Tarleton, was meeting his future wife.

In 1980, when he was considering Tarleton, he took a tour of the campus led by a student, Carla Trull. “She was a TexAnn and a cheerleader, and she was cute,” Leech said. The two were married in 1982.

Carla, who graduated from Tarleton in 1981 with a degree in education, has taught elementary school ever since.

“She loves Tarleton as much as I do,” Leech said.

He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1983 and a master’s in education in 1984.

After short stints in Copperas Cove and Yorktown, he moved to Boerne in 1986 and never looked back. Even after becoming athletic director in 1999, he never considered giving up coaching.

“I still coach basketball because that’s where the relationships are,” Leech said. “I’ve been really fortunate to be here so long.

Some of my best friends are guys I coached. What’s really neat is when you’re coaching kids of kids you’ve coached.”

The community, the relationships, the commitment to a life well lived, off and on the court—those are things that matter most to Stan Leech.

In 2009, after Leech had notched his 600th career win, thenBoerne school Superintendent Dr. John P. Kelly, wrote a column on Leech for the Boerne Star. The column quoted several of Leech’s former players.

“Beyond being a coach and a friend, Coach Leech has helped me become a better husband, father and man,” said one.

Coach, teacher, friend. “It’s been a good life,” Leech said.

&ODVɡ 1ԩHɡ Kerry L. Cornelius’85,’95 lives near Weatherford where he and his family run a stocker operation grazing cattle in Texas. He is the director of the Ranch Management Program at Texas Christian University and holds the endowed Burnett Ranches Professorship established by the Anne Burnett and Charles Tandy Foundation.

Scott Carey’99 is the running game coordinator and offensive line coach at the Colorado School of Mines. He previously was the offensive line coach at the school for four seasons (2002-05), then spent five years at Tarleton as the offensive coordinator/offensive line coach for the Texans.

Dan McCoy’89 was appointed to the Statewide

Scott Moger’01 has been named the Temple ISD’s assistant superintendent of student services.

He earned his master’s degree in educational administration from Tarleton and a doctor of education in curriculum and instruction from Baylor University.

Health Coordinating Council by Gov. Rick Perry.

The council evaluates long-term local, regional and statewide health needs to develop workforce goals for health professionals. McCoy is a dermatologist, co-owner and managing partner of Texas Dermatology Associates PA, and assistant director and a faculty member of the Baylor University Medical Center Dermatology Residence Program.

Sammy Moore’92 is the director of pharmacy at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Stephenville. Sammy and his wife, Jill Pate Moore, also a pharmacist, own Patrick Street Pharmacy in Dublin.

Scott Mahone’95 is the district executive for Navarro and Ellis counties for Circle Ten Council Boy Scouts. Scott has been a volunteer with the district for the last seven years and now has become a professional for the council.

Britney Webb’95 is the clinical site coordinator and senior lecturer of athletic training at Texas State University-San Marcos. Her duties include teaching athletic training classes as well as overseeing the off-campus clinical site where the athletic training students participate in clinical rotations. Britney is active in the Southwest Athletic Trainers Association (SWATA) National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA), and Texas State Athletic Trainers Association (TSATA).

Cathi Ball’96 is a welder, sculptor and illustrative artist. Her exhibits include weaving, wood and metals. She graduated from Tarleton at the age of 46 and was named “Outstanding Student” for fine arts and speech. In addition to teaching in Stephenville and Eastland, she also has taught sign language at her local church where she interprets for the deaf. Cathi has her pilot’s license and is also a graduate of The Greenbriar Cooking School.

Tina Sherrod Grote’98 is a registered dental hygienist at Westside Family Dentistry in Durant, Okla. She is a member of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association and Oklahoma Dental Hygienists’ Association. Tina is married to husband, Will, and has one son, five horses and a dog. She’s a rodeo competitor who raises registered Black Angus cattle and trains horses on her ranch.

Beth Krey’98 teaches fifth and sixth grade at Stephenville Christian School. She and her family reside in Dublin.

Jason Cech’02 was named the Cleburne Times-Review Man of the Year for 2011. Jason, who owns a Sears retail outlet in Cleburne, was cited by the newspaper for extraordinary customer support and community involvement.

Clint Martin’05 is a country western singer/ songwriter. The independent artist sends music as far away as France and said his international enthusiasts love his down-home sound. “The more Texas it is, the more they like it,” he said.

Tiffany Lowe’06,’11 resides in Weatherford with her husband. She began her teaching career at Dunbar High School in Fort Worth and later returned to Tarleton to pursue a master’s degree in political science. As a graduate student, she conducted research in the field of U.S./Mexican relations and taught courses in Texas history.

Casey Hogan’07 is the legislative director for U.S. Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco in the congressman’s Washington office. He previously worked for U.S. Rep. John Carter.

Jennifer Johnson’09,’11 is the Texas AgriLife Extension Service 4-H and youth development agent in Moore County. Jennifer is also a certified veterinarian technician and worked as a veterinarian’s assistant for eight years while going to college.

Whitney Walston’09 is the Texas AgriLife Extension Service family and consumer sciences agent in Crockett County. She is currently completing a master’s degree in health education from Texas A&M University at College Station. Her professional experience includes work as a teen program director for the Boys and Girls Club of the Texas Hill Country.

Tammy Benson’12 is the pre-kindergarten dean at A.W. Brown-Fellowship Leadership Academy in Dallas. The charter school is a third-generation elementary school presently serving students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. Tammy just completed her doctorate in education from Tarleton.

Natalie Rose’12 has accepted a graduate assistant position in Tarleton’s Division of Institutional Advancement after her May graduation from the university with a bachelor of business administration degree with an emphasis in management. A native of Lindsay, Texas, Rose served as a student worker for two years in the office of the vice president of institutional advancement, while completing her undergraduate studies.

Rose was a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and was a participant at the inaugural Texas Social Media Conference, where she gave a presentation titled, “How Different Relationships on Facebook Affect Posts.” She’ll pursue a master of business administration degree at Tarleton.

Gathered from alumni submissions and news stories from various media outlets

CONTACT US Send your alumni and class updates to: Tarleton State University Box T-0730 Stephenville, TX 76402 media@tarleton.edu (254) 968-9076

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“The gates are always open.” entrance to the campus. However, the construction of the Administration Building in 1984 required that it be permanently closed to all automobile traffic.

Closing the gate upset many students because it destroyed the traditional “cruising ritual” in which students gathered nightly in front of the Tarleton Center, piled into cars, exited the campus

BY DR. CHRISTOPHER E. GUTHRIE

In 1933, only eight years after it was built, the rock gate at the east entrance to Tarleton had already become an enduring physical landmark.

The Feb. 10, 1933, edition of the Stephenville Empire-Tribune carried a front page drawing of the east gate with the headline, “An Open Gate to Worthy Students.” The short caption that accompanied the drawing claimed that “every effort is made to make it [the Tarleton campus] an open gate to all those who come with alert minds and eager hearts and worthy purposes.”

The statement was an accurate comment on Tarleton’s commitment to serving the young people of north central Texas, and it remains a dramatic statement on the relationship between the school and its graduates.

Three sets of rock gates, all gifts from various past graduating classes, mark the Tarleton campus. The oldest gate, located at the intersection of Military Drive and McIlhaney Street on the east

40 TEXANS

side of campus, was designed by E.A. Funkhouser, head of Tarleton’s Manual Arts Department, and donated to the school by the Class of 1925. The college widened the gate in the early 1960s after a fire at the old Dining Hall revealed that the original gates were too narrow to allow fire-fighting vehicles into the campus.

The gate that is now in front of the Administration Building on Washington Street was donated to the school by the classes of 1932 and 1934. And the gate on the north side of campus, at the intersection of Vanderbilt Street and Doc Blanchard Boulevard, was a gift of the Class of 1933.

The gates have played a significant role in the history of Tarleton. Up until the late 1960s, the east gate on McIlhaney Street served as the main entrance to the campus. It opened onto Tarleton Street, which was the main route that students took to the Stephenville downtown square. Numerous boarding houses, which primarily housed Tarleton upper classmen, lined the street.

The south gate, in front of the Administration Building, later became the most popular and heavily utilized

through the south gate, and drove up and down Washington Street between the two Dairy Queens on either end of town.

Dr. Barry B. Thompson, president of Tarleton at the time, admitted that he had “to take a lot of heat” over this decision, but he stuck to his guns and the gates were closed to all automobile traffic in April 1984.

The symbolic value of all three sets of gates increased in the years that followed.

Although of little practical use with the growth of the university beyond its original 40-acre campus, the gates came to represent the strong and emotional relationship that Tarleton has established with its graduates.

The phrase itself was the brainchild of Ed Knoll, a Tarleton alumnus and current director of the Thompson Student Center. In the spring of 1991, he wanted to organize an alumni barbecue for former student members of the Student Activity Fund (which had at one time allocated money from student activity

fees to student organizations). At an organizational meeting held at the home of alumnus Connie Banks, he proposed that the group issue aprons printed with the phrase “The Gates Are Always Open,” to the volunteer cooks at the barbecue.

The proposal was accepted and a new iconic slogan was born.

Dr. Barry B. Thompson, president of Tarleton at the time, admitted that he had “to take a lot of heat” over this decision, but he stuck to his guns and the gates were closed to all automobile traffic in April 1984.

The Tarleton Alumni Association adopted the slogan as its own shortly thereafter, and it has been proudly displayed at numerous alumni events and in a multitude of publications ever since.

Tarleton President F. Dominic Dottavio has enthusiastically embraced the phrase and uses it frequently in his speeches and written communications.

Recently, the gates have even been painted on the walls near the main Tarleton office in the Hickman Building in Fort Worth to remind students there that the gates are also always open for them.

The popularity of the phrase, “The Gates Are Always Open,” reflects the fact that there is a unique bond between the university and its students—past, present and future. The rock gates, which were made possible by gifts from the students themselves, symbolize this connection in a striking and concrete manner. They do indeed remain open for all who ever studied or worked here.

And, undoubtedly, they always will.

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‘Front door’ gets new home Tarleton’s Welcome Center, dubbed “the front door” of the university for prospective students, is getting a new home.

The center, which hosts tours of the university year-round, will move to the recently renovated and expanded old nursing building on the east edge of the campus.

“We were very excited to move into our current offices (located in the Tarleton Center) about six years ago,” said Laurie Gaiser, director of School Relations/ Welcome Center. “But in the last three years our tour numbers have increased significantly, and our current space is no longer large enough for our purposes.

“Compared to this time last year, we’ve seen a 45 percent increase in regular campus tours and group tours,” she said. “In addition to the 45 percent increase this year, we experienced a 162 percent increase in regular campus tours and group tours over the two preceding years.”

In raw numbers, she said, the center hosted tours for 6,786 students and their guests in 2010-2011. The numbers this year are on track to meet or exceed last year’s total.

Gaiser attributes the large increase in tour numbers to new relationship software and increased mailing communications that reach out to prospective students and recruiters who spend a majority of their time on the road.

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The plans for the new center include a presentation room to accommodate large groups.

Historical exhibits now in the Tarleton Center, such as old sports photos, basketball trophies from coach William Wisdom’s days, cadet uniforms and Purple Poo memorabilia, will be moved to the new Welcome Center.

“We want to be able to provide our visitors with personalized attention,” Gaiser said. “It is important that prospective students feel welcome when they visit our campus. We never want a student to feel like a number.

A tour should be about giving a student and their families a memorable experience that sets Tarleton apart from all other universities.”

Campus tours play a large role in a prospective student’s decision to attend a university, Gaiser said. Tarleton saw a 19 percent increase in freshman enrollment in fall 2010 and another seven percent in fall 2011.

The old nursing building was originally the University Health Center, then became home to Tarleton’s nursing program at its inception in 1978. Early in 2011, a new state-of-the-art Nursing Building opened at the northwest end of the campus.

A portion of the old nursing building was demolished and replaced to house the Welcome Center.

PASSAGES 2011 – 2012 CONSTANCE P. “CONNIE” BIRDSONG, philanthropist and arts lover, passed away Aug. 17, 2011, in Whitestone, Va. She was 86. During her years in Stephenville, Connie was active in many civic and church related activities. Among many contributions, she co-founded the Alcohol and Drug Intervention Council, chaired the Stephenville Chamber of Commerce Cultural Affairs Committee, co-founded the Cross Timbers Fine Arts Council Inc. and was a board member for the Texas Arts Council for six years. She and husband Tom were staunch supporters of higher education. In 2004, they were inducted into the John Tarleton Society, which recognizes donors who have given significantly to the university.

HENRY BEDFORD FURR, educator and businessman, passed away on May 24, 2011, at the age of 93. He graduated from John Tarleton Agricultural College in 1934. At Tarleton he achieved the rank of cadet colonel, the highestranking cadet officer. He graduated with honors from Southern Methodist University. Later, he and his wife, Oneta Roberts Furr, earned doctoral degrees at the same time from what was then North Texas State University. After serving a number of years as a classroom teacher, he became assistant superintendent of schools in Wichita Falls. Early in his career he worked as announcer and account executive for KWFT Radio in Wichita Falls, and went on to become sales and promotion manager for United Electric Company of that city. He and his wife established the Dr. H. Bedford Furr and Oneta Furr Endowed Scholarship at Tarleton.

BARBARA LEE TERRELL NIX, educator and loyal Tarleton supporter, passed away June 17, 2011, at age 79. A Stephenville native, she completed a bachelor’s degree in English and history at the University of Texas at Austin in 1954 and earned her master of arts degree from UT in 1956. She taught at the secondary and collegiate level before she married, and was active in numerous civic and social organizations in Stephenville. She was a John Tarleton Society Gold member, and she and her husband, Bill, established eight endowed scholarships at Tarleton.

WILL L. TATE, distinguished Tarleton alumnus, donor and longtime passionate friend of the institution, passed away March 14, 2012, at the age of 96. A 1935 graduate of John Tarleton Agricultural College, Tate later earned degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and Harvard School of Business. He had a distinguished 30year military career, attaining the rank of colonel, then began a career in education at Galveston Community College. Tate was a longtime member of the Tarleton Alumni Association, served on the board of directors for the Tarleton State University Foundation Inc. for years and as chairman in 1998-1999, was honored in 1988 as a Tarleton Distinguished Alumnus and was the recipient, in 2002, of the first Honorary Doctor of Letters degree awarded by Tarleton State University.

VIRGINIA REAGAN YEARWOOD, longtime educator and distinguished faculty alumnus of Tarleton State University, where she taught child development and psychology, passed away on July 11, 2011, at age 99. After retiring from Tarleton in the late 1970s, Yearwood worked with Erath County MHMR for several years.

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SILVER TAPS Honoring the sons and daughters of Tarleton who passed between:

March 15, 2011 – March 15, 2012

Joyce Abbott Everette L. Abernathie Ernest W. Alexander Jr. Albert T. “A.T.” Allison James E. Anderson Fred W. Armstrong Connie Birdsong Jane S. Black Ola F. Bolieu A. Dane Bowen Jr. Ruth E. Boyd Carl V. Bradley Bobby R. Brock Virginia B. Brown Winnie M. Browning Roy “Don” Burkhalter Charles “Mike” Burns Amelia E. Burns Geraldine Campbell Joe E. Canady Richard A. Casey Joseph H. Cason Wendell H. Cathey Johnnie M. Clark Amy R. Cline Rockney V. Coke Joe R. Coleman A. Clyde Cone Jr. Skyla K. Copeland R. M. Currin Jr. Edward A. Daniel Franklin A. Davis

M. Moss Dickerson J. Beeman Dockrey Don Douglas E. Hoyt Dowdey Matha B. Dozier Jon L. Eckert Newnie W. Ellis Jr. Eileen Evans Dr. Guss D. Farmer Sr. Louise Fellows Charles C. Finley Jean C. Foust Girard L. Fox Velma M. Franks Dr. Robert G. “Robin” Fulcher Dr. H. Bedford Furr Mary H. Gaiser Sammy R. Gardner Bethany George James F. “Jim” Gibbs Jackie L. Gilbert Rev. Dr. John C. Gilbert Ronald E. Gilley James E. “Eddie” Gilmore W.R. “Buddy” Gray Jr. Charles W. Green Carol M. Griffin Marie “Sissie” Halber Virginia D. Harper Dr. Guy T. Harrison Dick Hart William E. Hayes Jr.

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Dwaine E. Hays Josephine “Jo” Hennig Abrel D. Hicks Karen “Sue” Hoffman Stanley B. Hudler Robert L. Humphrey Nadine Hurley Searcy L. Hurst Cecil D. James Jacqueline A. Jebo Thomas E. Jeffery Edward D. Jenkins Donald C. Kersh Michael L. Kimbrough Faye S. King Elva J. Kirk George W. Kirkpatrick Barbara C. Lane-Roberts Marjorie L. Lay Levi E. Lewis Marlin “Butch” Lewis Dickie L. Lide Michael R. Littleton Brian R. Littleton Lynn Lloyd Charles L. Lockhart Patsy L. Love Melba I. Manley Todd M. Masters Ouida L. Maxwell Melba McCoy Henry F. McEntyre

Gordon McQuire Earle F. “Mac” McSpadden Linda J. Merchan Bristol V. Mills George E. Mingus Mary Mitchell Donald N. Mize Dennis H. Moore Esther E. Newsome Cynthia L. Newton Carleene I. Nichols Barbara L. Nix Effie C. Oliver Joe E. Palmore Forrest D. Parmer Eugene “Steve” Perdue Wilbur W. Perry William T. “Tom” Pilkington Danny J. Piper L. Ellen Plastino Albert F. Poole Ken W. Portwood Clarence W. Presswood Jr. Jannett S. Pritchard Evonne G. Pryor Eugene B. Reavis Greg G. Reynolds Johnna P. Reynolds Jack H. Rice William T. “Bill” Richards Sadie J. Roy Willie W. “Billy” Saylor

If we have inadvertently omitted your loved one, please contact Tarleton External Relations at kllewis@tarleton.edu.

Ozella C. Scales Laura C. Schwendig Eva “Jo” Scott Juanita Scott Ernest C. Shillingburg J.D. Shimer Thomas K. Shotwell Hollis C. Skillman Jr. Travis M. Slagle Doris N. Smith Lloyd M. Smith William F. Soules Jordan M. Stabach Mary Wheeler Steen Winnie J. Stem Delia Stringer Claire M. Sweeney Connie J. Symank Col. Willie L. Tate Bart A. Thetford Luna R. Tinker Sam Tipton Mary Jo Tolbert Bob J. Traweek John R. Vandiver Michael W. Wallis Bobby G. Walls Jerry L. Wenmohs Edith M. Wright Virginia R. Yearwood

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We Can Help Contact Ms. Sabra Guerra at 254-968-9769 or sguerra@tarleton.edu with questions about naming Tarleton State University in your will or living trust.

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Tarleton State University Office of Development Box T-0260, Stephenville, Texas 76402 | (254) 968-9770 | www.tarleton.edu/giving

Tarleton State University Box T-0570 Stephenville, TX 76402 (254) 9 6 8 -90 0 0 | www.tarleton.edu

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